From a walkable slurry crust to an injectable mix!

As stock head for the sheds, that means more slurry and the annual trials and tribulations of managing this liquid asset.

"You could have walked over the top of the crust in our tower" – it almost sounds like a boast, but dairy farmer Ian Evans of Penkiln, Newton Stewart, is glad to be talking in the past tense.

"When I would mix it up, the dirty water would come out okay, but floor solids were left behind." It was then he tackled the problem with Epizym, a slurry additive from Harbro.

Epizym contains natural bacteria which are activated when mixed with water, and added to the liquid fraction of stored slurry. Using slurry as a food source, the bacteria produce a more liquid and homogenous mix, capture ammonia and reduce odours.

"I applied the product as per the instructions.The smell was greatly reduced when spreading and the slurry was far more consistent, leaving much less solid material on the leaves of the grass," said Ian,who has a 350,000 gallon slurry tower, plus under slat tanks for 230 cows.

"I have saved time and money on pumps. It would take a while and I used to hire in specialist mixing equipment. I haven't had to hire this in since using Epizym. I would, and have been recommending Epizym, he said.